His Love
by fleeting.ideas
Summary: Left alone, Zuko and Katara can just be together and spend some welldeserved time alone. Together. Alone. Not exactly what you’d think. [Zutara] [One shot]


Disclaimer: Not mine, just enjoy pulling some strings. P

Summery: Left alone, Zuko and Katara can just be together and spend some well-deserved time alone. Together. Alone. Not exactly what you'd think. Zutara One shot

Author's Note: I think I might've been saving this one… Well, I love this idea, and you'll just have to read on. I do this a lot. Lashing out to what seems to be the idea for practically every other plot out there for a specific pairing. And I'm a serious romantic at heart. Seriously. Just read and you'll see what I mean. Or you've put two and two together and read through my façade. Big words are such fun, that too, you'll be seeing some off-the-beaten-tracks words too.

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Zuko quickly went through the corridor. _His_ corridor. He wasn't frantic, per say, but he was obviously frazzled. He was anxious, yes, and excited. Quickly speeding through the halls to his private wing preserved for honored guests, along with the royal family. This wing was home to a select few, being it that the only family the Fire Lord had was his dear uncle, and closest confidant. On a daily basis, of course, when the head Water Tribe Ambassador was in town it was a different story.

And she was why he was quickly speeding through his halls, anxious and frazzled and excited. Ignoring the whispers of his staff, and praying to Agni that the message he had gotten meant what he thought it did.

"Katara…" he breathed upon finally arriving.

(Iroh had heartily extended the invitation from "Drop by whenever you wish" to "You can always stay in the private family wing" to the entire party of the dearest Avatar. Much to the dismay of the Fire Lord, who had no control over his uncle in any sense.)

She was wearing a breath-taking (and thus successful) low cut sapphire dress. It hugged her gentle curves, while leaving plenty to the imagination. The Fire Lord noticed, don't think for a second he didn't, he just didn't care what she was wearing. Form-fitting dress or turtle duck costume; he couldn't care less, as long as it was Katara. _His_ Katara. And they were alone. Hopefully.

"Yes, we **are** alone." Katara said, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Do I know you well, or what?"

"You know me well," Zuko, responded, quickly dropping the icy exterior he kept for show when ruling, allowing his more gentle and vulnerable self out. It was a side of him he showed Katara, one of the few who ever had or ever would see it. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips, while his smile grew into one that may be called dumbstruck. "I missed you." giving her a quick peck and taking her hand into his.

Katara rolled her eyes, but the sentiment was false as the bright smile stayed on her face and her eyes sparkled in the candle light with joy.

"Are you sure we aren't going to be interrupted?" Zuko was hesitant suddenly stopping in his tracks. With good reason, naturally, following the last experience he had had with that boy-man-thing. He was a Water tribe warrior and more importantly, an overprotective brother.

"Iroh is off in town, he actually helped me quite a lot in planning this. He knows how to get things done, and he knows we need our time alone. Aang and Toph went with him, since they aren't blind. Well, technically, Toph is, but she isn't dumb. They dragged Sokka with them and promised him food. They swore that they'll be gone all night or I get to take the rest of the year off."

"Excellent." He responded, all worries gone. He was led to a modest but intimate table set up in the garden waiting for them.

Upon reaching the table he found little interest in the food, and nor did Katara. To be honest, these moments were rare, and they should be used for things the couple could not do in front of anyone else. They settled by a pond, Katara leaning into his touch and playing with his hands in her lap, and Zuko gazing into the water.

The fire-bender was out of his element. Both because of the romance and the fact he was sitting by the pond with a water-bender. If this had happened only a few years ago, he could have very well been fighting a losing battle. But luckily, things had changed. As for the romance, that was hardly his fault. He had been shown with love only from his mother as a child, and when she had left (as he choose to believe it) he was alone with a grieving (and slightly crazy) uncle, an over-competitive sister, and an unforgiving father. Nor was it in his nature to be open and loving, which was hard for him, and had begun to put a strain on the relationship. He knew he loved Katara, and he hoped she did, too. He just didn't know how to say it.

He could feel his love squirming in his arms, constantly. "Something wrong, _dear_?"

"Hmm? Oh, well, nothing." Katara turned around to face him and sent him a reassuring smile. She just didn't know that he knew her "this is a fake smile, something is wrong but I obviously don't want you to know what" smile. She was lying.

They fell into a mildly comfortable silence, though Katara still seemed troubled. And the look on Zuko's face (which was unseen to Katara) showed that he knew it, and was equally troubled and confused.

Katara suddenly sped around facing him. His concerned look left leaving in its stead one of pure confusion. It grew into larger confusion, despite his joy, when she suddenly kissed him. She made the kiss intense and very passionate. She deepened the kiss while he was gasping in shock at her interest.

_This isn't like her…_ Zuko was still perplexed and became concerned at her out of character actions. He took her hands, with trouble untangling them from his hair and placed them between their chests. "Tatarea, are umdumdo" he mumbled. Meaning to say, "Katara, I'm confused" he broke off their kiss and led her to her feet in front of him.

Now that she was… subdued, he squinted his eyes and they rushed back and forth. They tried to read through her eyes like a book. Something was wrong. She looked hurt that he had ended the fervent kiss, and her eyes sparkled with something else now. _A pain, of some sort? _ He wasn't sure what it was, but he was uneasy about the look. "Katara, darling, what's wrong?"

She simply shook her head.

"You can tell me, I promise. No matter what it is."

She merely turned away, taking her hands from his warm grasp.

"Katar-" She walked away towards the far end of the garden.

"You don't want to know." Katara's back was still to him. He used all his practice as a warrior to good use, silently walking up to her and placing on hand on her shoulder. She shied away from the touch. He gazed at her back, she at the water.

"Of course I want to, it's bothering **you**…" He was persistent and began to stroke her hair, clearing it from her face and collecting it on one shoulder.

"If I… If I say it, it makes it real. And it can't be real, Zuko, it just can't." she sat down and collected her knees in her arms, she gently rocked back and forth leaving a perplexed Lord standing alone, cautious to what to do. "I don't what I'd… if I lost you…?" Her hypothetical statement of the impossible (_I would never leave her_) became a question. To herself? To him?

Though he couldn't see it, her eyes began to shimmer. This time, though, neither with joy, nor with the mysterious emotion seen just moments ago, but with tears. They began to slide down her cheeks, taking with them small bursts of pain and anguish, though leaving tracks down her cheeks of only more questions and sorrow. She began to wipe at them with the sides of her fists and this was her mistake. This simple action alerted Zuko of her uneasiness, causing him to immediately swoop down to his knees, once again taking her hands into his. With one hand holding her fists, the other quickly dried her tears away. All the while, he met her questioning eyes with ones filled with trepidation and worry.

Once her face was cleared of any track of the grief, they remained in their positions never once ending the stare. They had done countless times, before. When they weren't on the best of terms. "The sexual tension made it happen" as Iroh loved to put it. Zuko would immediately blush at the mere thought of it, while Katara would laugh. Zuko missed that laugh; it had been showing up less and less. Rarely when it was just they alone. When she was with her friends, it was easy and came bubbling up to the surface as easy as if it never left. During the war it was like a siren's song, if it could be heard there was nothing you could do to resist it. Now it still held its seduction, if only it could be heard by the Fire Lord.

Katara was the first to break the contact, blinking her quickly in repetition. She then closed the blue orbs, and took several calming breaths. _Meditation tricks I taught her._ Noticing his impact, Zuko smiled and waited for Katara to finish. Instead he redirected his gaze towards their hands, still interlocked. Intermittently her hands would tense as she breathed.

"Are you alright now?" Zuko's voice was deeply laded with concern. Katara nodded again. "Good." He leaned and gave her a quick and chaste kiss.

She stood up and brought her with him. She looked resolute and left little room for questions as she led him to his room. Zuko was skeptical. "Where are we going?"

"Your room."

"…Why?"

"Why do you think, Zuko?" She spoke in an exasperated tone. Though she gave a false seductive look.

"I don't know what to think" he became frustrated. This was not the Katara he knew, that he loved. "But I know this isn't you. This is not the Katara I know. Why are you acting like this?" He stopped in his tracks and took her chin in his rough hands. He forcefully, but not to hurt her, brought her face to look directly at him. "Why. Are. You. Acting. Like. This?" he narrowed his eyes.

Her own eyes just widened. "Oh, Zuko!" She suddenly collapsed in his arms. Her shoulders heaved with her emotion. Zuko was taken aback.

"_Where the hell did this come from?_" he muttered to himself. Unfortunately, seeing as she was in his arms and her head between his own and his shoulder, she heard. This only caused more choked up sobs to wreck through her body. He whispered sweet nothings in her ear, hushing to keep whatever it was at bay. He simply stood there holding her, rubbing his hands up and down her back. _This is the second time she's broken down tonight. She never gets like this… "She's a strong capable woman, what could've brought this on?" _Again, he accidentally spoke his thoughts aloud, causing her to look up.

"I.. Uh, I… I heard some noble woman talking." Katara's glance went to her feet.

"Oh. Well, that explains it then…" it didn't completely explain the situation, but those woman said things to scare even the Fire Lord. "What'd they say this time?" his eyes narrowed again, this time he was on a warpath. _Insult my Katara will they?_

"They were talking about me, I had just arrived. They said that a water tribe girl couldn't possible _satisfy_ the needs of a Fire Lord. Then they talked about which noble daughter was going to be… the captain of your harem."

"Does this whole world think I'm a pyromaniac sex crazed freak?"

Katara, for the third time tonight was speechless.

"Is that why you tried to… er… seduce me?"

She nodded. Again.

"I don't need sex. I don't think we're … I don't think **I'm** ready for that. We'll know when the time is right, but I'm in no hurry."

She hugged him tightly. "I was so scared I would loose you if I didn't… If I didn't, well, you know."

"So that's why you were acting so weird tonight…"

They met each other with broad smiles, all of the awkwardness and pain forgotten. They settled down in each other's arms by the pond with their feet dangling.

"I think I'm going to hurt those noble woman…" Zuko mentioned his plans, half joking seeing if he could coax her laugh out. Of course, the other half was dead serious.

He completed his goal, the one to make her laugh. It bubbled forth and he closed his eyes relishing in the sound

"I love you, Katara."

"I know."

They shared another passionate kiss, this time without being forced from any noble women comments, nor forced by unsaid feelings, this time it was just right. Honest, pure, and chock full of love. Her love. His love. It ceased to be separate, that kiss served as a bonding. The loves merged into one, creating something too strong to be broken, as would be proved. By arguments, by children, by distance, as time would tell. No longer _his_ life, it was their life— together.


End file.
